When Memory Fades
by MelodySwanMills
Summary: The night Emma returned with Marian from the past was one of Regina's worst. Angry and embarrassed, she decides to get drunk at The Rabbit Hole. But when she decides to drive home, she gets in a serious accident and loses all her memories. Now, with the Savior's help, she needs to discover herself all over again. And maybe find something she didn't know she was missing.


**Author's Note: Contains spoilers for 3x22/4x01!My take on what happens after Marian's return. No Frozen characters. I'm not sure how long this'll be. I hope you enjoy! T for now,but rating may change.**

* * *

"You? You did this?" Regina asked Emma in surprise.

"I just wanted to save her life," Emma explained timidly.

"You're just like your mother. Never thinking of consequences!" Regina yelled angrily.

"I didn't know," Emma replied.

"Of course you didn't." Regina sneered. With one final glare, she turned away from Emma and walked out the diner's door.

She walked out to where the diner's patio met the sidewalk, and stood there contemplating, with a million thoughts running through her head at once. She couldn't believe that had just happened. Her relationship with Robin Hood ending wasn't the most upsetting thing. No, what upset her most was that it was Emma who had betrayed her.

She trusted Emma and for her to betray her like that hurt. She didn't really even care for Robin, if she was being honest with herself. The only reason she was even with him was because all those years ago in the Enchanted Forest, the pixie dust had led her to him. He was supposed to be her happy ending, or at least according to the pixie dust. So when she found him again after all these years, she jumped at the chance to finally be happy, even though she could never truly be happy with him.

Because the real reason she tried to force a relationship with him was because the real person she wanted wasn't interested in her, instead she was with that pathetic excuse for a pirate. She tried to move on, and make a different life for herself with Robin Hood and his son, but she just couldn't stop thinking of Emma and what could have been. And then Emma had to get sucked into the past through Zelena's portal, and then return to ruin any chance for happiness Regina had.

* * *

Regina grabbed her head with her hands and shook her head in disbelief. Just then the sound of Granny's door opening sounded behind her.

"Regina," came Emma's voice from behind her.

"Not now Swan," Regina replied.

"I'm sorry. When I brought Marian back I didn't know who she was," Emma told her."I didn't intend to cause you pain."

Regina turned around to face her. "Well your intentions really don't matter. Because once again I felt the brunt of heroism. Always the villain, even when I'm not," she scoffed.

"What am I supposed to do?" Emma asked.

"Well you were dumb enough to travel through time, maybe you should've left things well enough alone," Regina replied.

"I am not going to apologize for saving someone's life," Emma defended.

"She was going to die anyway, what did it matter?" Regina asked.

"It mattered when she was a person. And whatever she did, she didn't deserve to die," Emma replied.

"Well maybe she did!" Regina exclaimed angrily.

"Well you would know, I saved her from you," Emma said.

Regina stared in surprise. She was afraid of what Emma had witnessed of her in the past, and what she now thought of her.

"The person who did that, that was the person I was, not the person I am," she said, trying to convince Emma that she had changed. "I worked very hard to build a future, a future that's now gone."

"You don't know that," Emma replied.

"Well I know it's complicated enough now that his dead wife is back!" Regina said angrily.

"Regina, for that I'm sorry, but if there's anything I can do to help," Emma started to say.

"Miss Swan," Regina interrupted. "The more you try to help, the worse my life becomes."

Emma looked away guiltily. But before she could reply, the door opened again.

"Marian, meet her. She's not at all what you think," Robin Hood said as he was walking out of the diner and towards Regina.

Emma moved away back towards the stairs to give them some room to talk.

"Regina, I want you to meet Marian," he said as he gestured to his recently returned wife. "I, uh, I want us to talk about this," he said nervously as he grabbed Regina's arm.

"Wait, were you two? Are you two together?" Marian asked.

"Marian, please," Robin Hood pleaded.

"You and the Evil Queen? Did you let her near my son? Do you know what she's done, the terror she's inflicted?" Marian said.

Before anyone could reply, the door opened again and the Charmings and Henry walked out.

"_Great, just what I need right now. The two idiots_," Regina thought, annoyed at their appearance.

"Is everything okay?" Snow asked them.

"No one's been incinerated yet, so that's a good sign," David said.

Regina rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Regina, are you all right?" Snow asked her former stepmother.

"What? What is wrong with you people? Why…why are you talking to her? Don't you know who she is?" Marian asked them in surprise.

Regina's eyes slid over to her son.

"Mom, what's going on?" Henry asked her.

"She's a monster!" Marian exclaimed as she pointed at Regina.

Regina curled her hand into a fist in an attempt to hold back her anger.

"No, she's…" Emma tried to explain.

But they didn't let her finish. Marian picked up Roland and walked away with Robin following after them, and so Regina left too.

"Regina!" Emma called as she went to go after her.

"No," Hook said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "No good has ever come from pushing that woman. Give her some space," he told Emma.

"That's what she does, and that's what makes me worried about her," David said.

"You don't think she'll become evil again do you?" Henry asked concerned. "She can't, she's come to far!" he exclaimed.

"I hope you're right kid," Emma said as she hugged him with one arm and watched Regina walk down the street. After that, the Charming family decided to go home.

* * *

"_God, that was so humiliating_," Regina thought as she walked down the street.

It had taken all of her self-control not to choke Marian for embarrassing her like that. As she walked, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going, and before she knew it, she was walking past The Rabbit Hole. As Regina looked up and noticed the sign, she paused and stared, lost in thought.

"_Jesus, I could use a few drinks right about now," _she thought_._

_ "Fuck it, it's not like I have anything to go back to at home anyway_."

And so with that, she turned around and walked back towards the bar, opened the door, and went inside.

She walked up to the bar and sat down in front of the bartender.

"Madam Mayor," the man acknowledged her with a nod of his head. "What can I get for you?" he asked her.

"Scotch," she replied. " And keep them coming," she told him.

The man nodded and handed her her drink. Regina took a sip, enjoying the burn as it slid down her throat. She was determined to drink her feelings and this night away.

* * *

Several hours later, Regina was completely trashed.

"Last call!" the bartender called out at the few remaining patrons.

Regina groaned in annoyance and handed over her credit card, as she finished her last drink. Her card was handed back to her, and she stood up on shaky legs, and went to head to the door to go home.

"Do you need help Madam Mayor?" the bartender asked the drunk Mayor. "Do you need me to call you a cab?"

"I am the Evil Queen you filthy peasant, I don't need your help!" the mayor drunkenly declared.

"All right, I just want to make sure you don't drive ma'am. I was only trying help," the man placated.

"Well not that's it any of your business, but I was going to walk home," Regina sneered at him as she opened the door and left.

She stepped outside and started walking back into town. As she neared Granny's, she remembered she had driven her car there earlier and had parked just around the corner. She didn't want to leave her car there all night, so she fumbled through her purse for her keys, and headed in the direction of her car.

"_I probably shouldn't be driving_," she thought to herself as she got into the car.

But she was too drunk to care and just wanted to get home and go to sleep. So she ignored her own advice, turned the car on, and pulled out of the parking space.

"_This has been one of the worst nights of my life_," she thought. "_At least it can't get any worse_."

By now Regina was driving too fast, and wasn't paying any attention. So when the road turned up ahead, she tried to turn her car at the last minute, and instead she headed straight into a utility pole. She felt the impact of the car, and was suddenly jerked forward. She could hear the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass. The last thing she saw was the pole heading right towards her car, about to fall on top of her.


End file.
